Delhi Excise Scam Case: HC Grants Time To Kejriwal, Others To Respond To ED's Plea
Delhi High Court has granted time to 23 accused in the excise scam case till April 2 to file their responses.
Published : March 19, 2026 at 6:39 PM IST
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted time to all 23 accused, including former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, to respond to a petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise policy scam case.
The ED's petition challenges certain observations made by the trial court against the investigative agency in its order acquitting the accused in the case. A bench led by Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma has listed the next hearing in this matter on April 2.
During the hearing, counsel appearing on behalf of the accused sought time to file their responses. Subsequently, ASG SV Raju, appearing for the ED, submitted that there was no necessity for the accused to file a response. The court then asked the lawyers representing the accused as to why they have not filed their responses. To this, lawyers for some of the accused said they had not received a copy of the petition. The Court thereafter directed that a copy of the petition be provided to them immediately.
On March 10, while hearing the ED's petition, the court had issued notices to all the accused. The Court had observed that it appeared as though generalised remarks had been made against the investigative agency.
Prior to this, on March 9, the court had stayed the adverse observations made by the trial court against the CBI in the related case filed by that agency. The high court had further directed the trial court to refrain from conducting any further hearings in the money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy scam. Following this order, the ED also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court.
Notably, on February 27, the Rouse Avenue Court acquitted all the accused in the case. The court had observed that there were significant contradictions in the chargesheet. It noted that the facts presented in the chargesheet did not corroborate with the statements recorded from the witnesses. The court observed that Manish Sisodia spent approximately 530 days in jail while Arvind Kejriwal spent 156 days in jail, spread across two separate stints. Kejriwal was released on September 13, 2024, after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the CBI case.
The ED had arrested Kejriwal on March 21, 2024, following an interrogation. On May 10, the Supreme Court granted Kejriwal interim bail until June 1, following which, he surrendered on June 2, 2024.
On June 26, 2024, Kejriwal was arrested by the CBI and on May 10, 2024, the ED filed its sixth supplementary chargesheet, in which BRS leader K. Kavitha, along with Chanpreet Singh, Damodar Sharma, Prince Kumar, and Arvind Singh, were named as accused. The court took cognizance of the sixth supplementary chargesheet on May 29.
On August 27, the Supreme Court granted bail to K. Kavitha in both the CBI and ED cases. On September 13, 2024, the Supreme Court granted regular bail to Kejriwal in the CBI case. Prior to this, on July 12, 2024, the Supreme Court had granted Kejriwal interim bail in the ED case.
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